A suicide bomber in a small town plans out her last day, getting
herself photographed before she goes and blows up the prime minister. A
drunkard in a Mumbai slum tries to compete with the torrential rain,
even as it washes his dwelling away. An army man at the border has
become so accustomed to speaking over the wireless that he ends every
sentence with ‘Over!’ And in the title story, a cop drags a dead cow
from Vinayak Rao Patwardhan Road to the adjoining Bapu Road, since the
latter is so much easier to spell. From real-life stories about Javed
Akhtar, Sahir Ludhianvi and Kuldip Nayyar to tales set in Kashmir, in
the hinterland, in the modern megapolis and on the LoC, from anecdotes
of love and betrayal to fables of courage and conviction, this is an
enthralling collection available in English for the very first time.